If you go to http://www.insighttimer.com and search for "Dhamma Wheel Meditation Challenge", you should be able to find our group there.The group is only seven members strong. If you have difficulty finding the group, send either Khalil Bodhi or myself a PM on Dhamma Wheel with your insighttimer username and we will be able to invite you.kind regards,

Ben

“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.” - Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:in mountain clefts and chasms,loud gush the streamlets,but great rivers flow silently.- Sutta Nipata 3.725

Fantastic, it will be great to have you on board.Its a small group, for sure, but that doesn't matter if it provides you with the inspiration and motivation that is going to be beneficial to you.with metta,

Ben

“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.” - Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:in mountain clefts and chasms,loud gush the streamlets,but great rivers flow silently.- Sutta Nipata 3.725

I've joined in with the insight timer app, shout out to Ben for sending me the link.

I think it's absolutely great, and I can already see myself wanting to sit more and more just to increase my stats and unlock some achievements. Can't wait to graph them! Silly isn't it, well only partially since as I like to think there's no such thing as bad meditation.

mettaJack

"For a disciple who has conviction in the Teacher's message & lives to penetrate it, what accords with the Dhamma is this:'The Blessed One is the Teacher, I am a disciple. He is the one who knows, not I." - MN. 70 Kitagiri Sutta

“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.” - Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:in mountain clefts and chasms,loud gush the streamlets,but great rivers flow silently.- Sutta Nipata 3.725

Good luck with that, Craig. It may be as simple as setting the alarm a little earlier.All the best,

Ben

“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.” - Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:in mountain clefts and chasms,loud gush the streamlets,but great rivers flow silently.- Sutta Nipata 3.725

Good luck with that, Craig. It may be as simple as setting the alarm a little earlier.All the best,

Ben

Haha I do but the damn snooze button! Lol

I have the same problem Craig, so I put the alarm clock out somewhere it forces me out of bed to turn it off.That, and I have an iphone and I set four or five alarms that go off within a minute of each other. It usually does the trick.kind regards,

Ben

“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.” - Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:in mountain clefts and chasms,loud gush the streamlets,but great rivers flow silently.- Sutta Nipata 3.725

This is another reminder of the Dhamma Wheel Meditation Challenge group on Insighttimer.com. http://www.insighttimer.comWe have a small group of practitioners registered with the group at Insighttimer. One of the things I like about the timer is that it will let you know when other group members or "friends" are meditating at the same time, allowing one to send a message of support which can be picked up at the end of the session. For those of you who live far away from a sangha, it may provide that additional level of support to help you keep your meditation practice regular.kind regards,

Ben

“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.” - Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:in mountain clefts and chasms,loud gush the streamlets,but great rivers flow silently.- Sutta Nipata 3.725

As of July 20th 2013, I just passed my eighth year keeping a meditation log (no apps, just several small notebooks and a ball point pen ) and having sat at least once a day, every day of those 8 years.

One of the best decisions of my life.

In reading the scriptures, there are two kinds of mistakes:One mistake is to cling to the literal text and miss the inner principles.The second mistake is to recognize the principles but not apply them to your own mind, so that you waste time and just make them into causes of entanglement.

Yeah I would agree the insight timer has really helped ensure I never skip a session, let alone a day. I love it, and it's been so helpful. Love looking over my graphs and stats and comparing days and thinking about what led me to meditate more that day or that week compared to this day or this week. And I like unlocking 'milestones' - If I were them I would add more 'achievements' so like you get a wee badge or something for a really long sit, or all kinds of things really - Just about little rewards and such like.

I thoroughly recommend that ap to everyone. It is free, although you do get a lot more feature with the timer with the paid version. I bought the paid version after using the free one for a few weeks, and I think the paid is worth every cent. I love having a quiet wooden bell go off every 10 minutes. Especially helpful if my mind has wandered that I've only got X amount of time left and I should redouble my efforts to concentrate. Usually works a charm.

mettaJack

p.s. Congraulations Jhana4! No small achievement man!

"For a disciple who has conviction in the Teacher's message & lives to penetrate it, what accords with the Dhamma is this:'The Blessed One is the Teacher, I am a disciple. He is the one who knows, not I." - MN. 70 Kitagiri Sutta

I started my own personal challenge about 3 weeks ago to sit for atleast one half hour daily of just straight anapana sati, i focus on the point where the breath-contact is felt, i didnt realize there was a meditation challenge here this whole time until just a few days ago.

This past 21 days consecutive sitting for at least 30 minutes has been wonderful. usually i sit for a half hour here, 20 minutes there each day, almost an hour daily! my work schedule is never the same so i am not free during the same hours routinely, although if i am assigned to work where/when it is slow, i do standing meditation, or when im not actively engaged, i will meditate in whichever way the body is disposed.

I am challenging myself to sit for at least a half-hour daily, gradually increasing as needed. two suttas im constantly reflecting on in my practice is "nodding" or "dozing" Pacala Sutta in the Anguttara Nikaya (access to insight says 7.58, but the book i have says 7.61) and also Vitakkasanthana Sutta (removal of distracting thoughts) Majjhima Nikaya 20.

i think i will keep it up, im actually enjoying more than i do ordinary worldly things, im starting to look foward to it, it is a most enjoyable practice to me.

I have insight timer, and found/joined the dhammawheel meditation challenge group but havent posted anything there yet.

After Ben's guidance, I will use this thread to document my efforts. I will not be able to take part in Insight Timer since I do not have an Android or Apple smartgadget. This forum will do for me, however.

*Day 19 to Day 29:For the past 10 days days I was not able to update this log. An underground telecom cable around my house was stolen by thieves and the telecom company took their time digging up and installing a new one. I had no internet access.

Anyway, I am glad to note that I was able to meditate all these days. But I missed the sangha of Dhammawheel and there were three days where I could only meditate once a day, the mind was simply too agitated and restless. All other days I was able to find the strength to meditate 20 minutes both morning and evening.

Now hopefully I should have untroubled connectivity to internet and can continue my efforts with renewed vigour.

(Since this forum allows editing of old posts, instead of a new post everytime I sit I will edit this old one. Only when this post gets too long (30 days or so, here's hoping) will I will start a new post. I do not want to spam the thread with two posts/day.)

Last edited by Weakfocus on Sat Sep 14, 2013 6:10 am, edited 36 times in total.